Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock.
AN: First things first…thanks to those who reviewed! And hope you enjoy this last chapter…will be doing Sign of Three sometime soon…
Chapter 5:
'Where are we going?' John asked as they sat in the cab. Sherlock had checked his phone, read a text, and they set off.
'Sumatra Road. There was a station built there, but it was closed before it was every opened. It is right beneath the Palace of Westminster.'
'And how do you know this?'
'Was a case. The man worked at the tube. Gave me all info that I needed.' Sherlock waved his phone, before hopping out of the cab, letting John pay. John sighed as he dug out his wallet (he was going to go bankrupt if he kept on paying for Sherlock's cabs), and followed Sherlock.
They reached a sort of tunnel in the wall, covered by some gates. With some simple picking the lock, Sherlock got in first.
Irene rocked Nero anxiously, while the child cooed and slowly went to sleep. She wondered where Sherlock and John were. The last time Sherlock had texted her had been before he entered the tunnels, where there was now no signal.
She waited nervously, smiling at Mrs. Hudson as she dropped by, giving her some tea and biscuits.
Mary came by as well, and Irene was surprised to find that they got along quite well. Mary immediately loved Nero on seeing him. Mary, being used to John's odd lifestyle, helped her relate to Irene, who had to deal with Sherlock, though, to be fair, both of them were equals.
Irene set Nero down in his cot, which was now in the living room (there was also one in their bedroom so that if anything happened, they would know. If Sherlock woke up early, or didn't sleep at all, he took care of Nero until Irene woke).
She then offered Mary some tea, which Mary accepted. There was something about Mary that Irene couldn't pin down for some reason, but she knew that Sherlock knew.
Irene smirked, knowing that she would easily be able to extract the information from him now that they trusted each other, and let down their shields a lot more. Unfortunately, that meant that Sherlock would know what she was doing, and would refuse to give any information.
She glanced up at the clock, and was surprised at how fast time passed. About 3 hours passed, and still no sign of Sherlock.
Mary was also starting to look worried as Irene took out her phone and dialled Sherlock's phone. She didn't know why, but when she heard the familiar baritone, a great weight she didn't even know was there was lifted off her.
He seemed relieved to hear from her too. He informed her of how they were heading home, and she made sure Nero was fine. With Sherlock's reluctant approval, she had invited over Lestrade and Molly, having heard how the young woman had helped Sherlock stage his death.
Mrs. Hudson had been extremely helpful, providing drinks and food.
She had taken an intense liking to Nero, and doted on him, even though he had been introduced to her for about, say 2-3 days. Nero seemed to like her as well, gargling happily every time she entered the same room as him.
Sherlock and John arrived home first, of course, followed closely by Lestrade, who stared at Irene, and then at Nero, and then had looked at Sherlock, who didn't even look up from his laptop.
Not too soon after, Molly came, and introduced her fiancé, Tom. Irene noted mentally that Tom looked like Sherlock, with the lines of his face softer maybe, but didn't say anything.
Of course, soon enough, everyone started to coo over Nero, who enjoyed the attention. Irene presumed that he got that from both her and Sherlock, who also loved being the centre of attention. Irene was also surprised that the people could get used to this rather quickly, though, she thought, having Sherlock Holmes in your life probably helped with dealing the unexpected.
However, she was worried about what Nero could do.
He had his father's smile, and while on Sherlock, his 'kicked puppy' face and smile was charming if he put enough effort into it, Nero was slightly the same. He had his what Irene had dubbed 'Bambi eyes', and an adorable smile that could make anyone do what he wanted to.
In fact, the only one who didn't give in was Sherlock, who had, according to Mycroft, used the same look before when he was younger.
Soon enough, though, John and Sherlock turned to leave to face the media downstairs.
When everyone had left, and Mrs. Hudson went back downstairs, Irene tucked Nero into the cot in their bedroom, and turned to kiss Sherlock goodnight. 'It's nice to be back in London, isn't it, darling?'
Irene deliberately only used 'darling' on Sherlock. He didn't like any other name, and was already used to the name. However, the one which he absolutely hated was 'Honey', from before with Moriarty.
Frankly, Irene understood.
And so, when they went to bed that night, Irene pecked Sherlock on his lips, knowing that he still had nightmares. 'I'm here.'